value of the increased quantity produced in consequence of
the improvement will be the same exactly as the value would have been of
the less quantity that would have been produced, had no improvement
taken place, an effect is also produced on the portion of goods still
unconsumed, which were manufactured previously to the improvement; the
value of those goods will be reduced, inasmuch as they must fall to the
level, quantity for quantity, of the goods produced under all the
advantages of the improvement: and the society will, notwithstanding the
increased quantity of its commodities, notwithstanding its augmented
riches, and its augmented means of enjoyment, have a less amount of
value. By constantly increasing the facility of production, we
constantly diminish the value of some of the commodities before
produced, though by the same means we not only add to the national
riches, but also to the power of future production. Many of the errors
in political economy have arisen from errors on this subject, from
considering an increase of riches, and an increase of value, as meaning
the same thing, and from unfounded notions as to what constituted a
standard measure of value. One man considers money as a standard of
value, and a nation grows richer or poorer, according to him, in
proportion as its commodities of all kinds can exchange for more or
less money. Others represent money as a very convenient medium for the
purpose of barter, but not as a proper measure by which to estimate the
value of other things: the real measure of value according to them is
corn,[27] and a country is rich or poor, according as its commodities
will exchange for more or less corn. There are others again, who
consider a country rich or poor, according to the quantity of labour
that it can purchase.[28] But why should gold, or corn, or labour, be
the standard measure of value, more than coals or iron?--more than
cloth, soap, candles, and the other necessaries of the labourer?--why,
in short, should any commodity, or all commodities together, be the
standard, when such a standard is itself subject to fluctuations in
value? Corn, as well as gold, may from difficulty or facility of
production, vary 10, 20, or 30 per cent., relatively to other things;
why should we always say, that it is those other things which have
varied, and not the corn? That commodity is alone invariable, which at
all times requires the same sacrifice of toil and labour to produce i